Chapter-38

When Gaara was defeated, the Suna shinobi stopped their attacks and retreated. Oto shinobi were captured. There was also the shock of 3rd Hokage dying while battling Orochimaru. Today was his funeral. Sakura stepped out of her house and went to go meet Naruto and Sasuke who were waiting for her. The funeral was already gloomy but the rain made it much worse. Sakura kept her head down and shook her fists. I couldn't save him. I'm really hopeless. Kakashi saw her.

Funeral was over and Team 7 was walking in silence when Kakashi popped in front of them.

"Sakura, come with me."

"Yes sensei." She replied in a low voice.

Kakashi and Sakura left leaving Naruto and Sasuke with curiosity. Why did he want to talk to Sakura?

Kakashi and Sakura sat on the top of the Hokage Mountain. There was a comfortable silence.

"It wasn't your fault, Sakura."

Sakura looked up at him wide eyed.

"How is it not? I came here to protect the future but I can't even save the life of an important person."

"You know that you wouldn't be able to fight Orochimaru alone, right?"

She stayed quiet.

"I know it feels bad when people you know die but you shouldn't blame yourself for every bad happening. They aren't in your hands."

Sakura listened and after a while she felt better.

"Thank you, sensei."

"Well, we can't have our Sakura looking gloomy, can we?" he said with mirth

Sakura also laughed.

They talked for a while and then left.

Meanwhile Naruto had found Jiraiya and asked him to teach again.

"I want to learn a ninjutsu that is powerful. I don't have any ninjutsu skill set."

"Hmm… well I have to go travel to meet someone. If you wanna learn, you can come with me. Don't worry we'll be back in like a month."

Naruto happily agreed and went home to pack. On his way he found Sakura walking to her home. He came up beside her

"Hey, Sakura-chan! Guess what I'm going travelling for a month with this new teacher I found. He is awesome!"

It must be Jiraiya-sama. So now he will learn rasengan.

"Wow that's awesome, Naruto! Have fun."

"Yah I will. See you soon!"

Sakura waved him bye and started walking to her home. I need to start gathering Akatsuki as soon as possible. That's the only way to keep them from reviving the Ten-Tails. But how? She was sitting on the floor and thinking. She picked up the picture of Team 7. She saw Sasuke and remembered how they were introducing themselves to Kakashi. He wants to restore Uchiha. Suddenly it clicked her! Uchiha Itachi! He is spying on Akatsuki already… will he believe me? I do trust him. And this seems like the perfect setting. He is one of the strongest in the shinobi world. And he is fighting for peace and for Sasuke. Those are similar to my goals. Hm. I'll have to talk to Kakashi-sensei about this. Wait. Oh no! Itachi-san came to the village in the past when the 3rd Hokage died! And he trapped Kakashi sensei in Tsukuyomi. How much time do I have? She looked at the calendar. Hm I have 2 days till Itachi-san comes. I'll have to go right now. And with finality in her mind, she went to look for Kakashi.

Sasuke was walking down the street when he saw a pair of gloves. He checked them out. Sakura wears gloves to protect her hand from hurting when she punches. Maybe I should buy it for her. Yeah, this is nothing. It's a simple thing that teammates do for each other. This doesn't mean anything else. It's normal. Hm. And he bought them and started going to his apartment. I hope she likes them. He thought with a small smile. AH! Just get out of my head, Sakura! He thought when her face kept coming in his mind. He was feeling these weird emotions he didn't understand. He wanted to get rid of it but at the same he welcomed them. They gave him some kind of happiness. While he was thinking about Sakura and his emotions, he saw Sakura running on rooftops fastly. What's with the rush? He thought about following her but decided against it. I have enough things to do that are more important than a girl.

Sakura reached Kakashi's apartment and knocked. He opened the door

"Oh! hey Sakura, what are you doing here?"

"I have to talk to you. Its urgent."

Urgent? "Sure, come on in."

They sat down. Sakura took a deep breath and decided to get it over with.

"Kakashi-sensei, you know who Uchiha Itachi is, right?"

"Of course. The whole shinobi world knows him for betraying the village and killing everyone of the Uchiha clan."

"Hm. Okay I know you will find it hard to believe it but please listen. Itachi-san has not betrayed the village. He has been protecting it."

Shock would be an understatement if you wanted to know Kakashi's reaction to this news.

"What?"

"Itachi-san killed the Uchihas to save the village from a coup d'etat. That time, Uchiha clan was planning on killing the big clans and important people who controlled the village. His father was the leader of the coup. Itachi-san was told to choose between the village or the clan. He decided to support the village as he thought what the Uchiha were trying to do would just bring chaos and the village will be in danger. He reported to 3rd Hokage and the elders and they decided that the Uchiha clan must be destroyed. They were one of the strongest clans. That's why, Itachi-san took the job to himself and killed the clan to save the village. He then left the village and joined the Akatsuki. He works as a spy for the village. He wanted the people to think that he was a traitor."

Kakashi was speechless. What the hell! Itachi is innocent?! The elders controlled him and used him to take the attention away from them. And till now he has been living as a so-called traitor.

"Oh my god. Are you serious right now?"

She just nodded with a grave look.

"Sensei, let me get straight to my point."

"Okay. Speak."

"I think Itachi-san will be very helpful for this mission and I want his help. He is strong enough to deal with Akatsuki. He is already a member and I know he will help me because he helped in the real war even though he was dead. He is the most trustworthy person who can help with our situation."

"Okay. I get your point Sakura. But how will you convince him? He doesn't even know you."

"That's where you come in. See I saw the calendar and exactly two days from now, Itachi-san will come to the village because the Hokage has died. He wants to make sure if Hokage kept his promise or not."

"What promise?"

"Itachi-san agreed to support the village if and only if Sasuke will be left alive and kept safe in the village. He loves him. More than anything."

"Good god, how will Sasuke handle all this?"

"Don't tell it to anyone."

"Okay."

"So, the plan is you have to get yourself trapped in his Mangekyo Sharingan and get sucked into his Tsukuyomi. There he can talk to you without any interference. Then you show him the future by your eye and tell him about me. Then he will tell you what to do next."

"Hmm it is a good plan. I hope he doesn't kill me though."

"He knows what the Akatsuki are trying to achieve and we are just going to show him how it ended up. How his sacrifice meant nothing. I don't want him to be treated like a traitor." Said Sakura sadly.

Sakura…

"Okay, I'll do it. I trust you. But how will my condition be when I come out of the Tsukuyomi?"

"You will be unconscious for a while. Since I wont be able to know if he agrees or not, take a red pin with you. If he agrees, give him the red pin. I'll come to check on you at the hospital and if you don't have the pin, then I'll move forward. But you will be treated very soon because of Naruto."

"How does Naruto fixes into this?"

"He went with Jiraiya-sama to train and learn the rasengan. What Jiraiya-sama is doing is finding Tsunade-sama, with whom you created the 'Jikan Gyakuten no Jutsu'. She will become the 5th Hokage. She will treat you and you will be back to normal."

This is too much to take in at once…

"We can trust Tsunade-sama. I know her well enough to say this with confidence. Once she builds her trust with you, tell her all this."

"This is getting very complicated. But thank you Sakura. You are doing well on your mission." He said while patting her head. She gave hm a small honest smile and then left.

I'm sorry I left such a heavy burden on you, Sakura.

Meanwhile Naruto was pestering Jiraiya but he was ignoring him and was asking around about Tsunade's where abouts. Finally, he took a break.

"Training now?"

"Yes. Okay, I got you balloons."

"Why?"

"You will fill them with water and put in circular chakra from your palm to make the water revolve inside and try to pop it. See like this."

Jiraiya took a water filled balloon, kept it in his hand, focused circular chakra and Naruto watched in amazement as the water continued to spin inside the balloon and pop.

"Woah that's so cool! Okay I'm starting right now."

"Yeah, and I'll go ask around some more."

Naruto was trying hard but the balloon kept getting wild bumps from his chakra. He needed to control his chakra and keep the balloon smooth. Ah… this is gonna take a while.